Many a time, the words spirituality and philosophy are used synonymously. The word philosophy is derived from Philein – to love and Sophos – knowledge and hence it means love of knowledge. But commonly, it means studying the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Philosophy is a rigorous academic discipline as such knowledge is very abstract, and it requires delving into extremely abstruse theories written in complicated semantics or language. The words’ philosophy and spirituality are used interchangeably. Due to this reason one tends to assume that spirituality is as technical and rigorous as philosophy. This is how it is in western society. The difference between philosophy and spirituality is that philosophy stops with just intellectual understanding of the reality while spirituality includes all the disciplines that one undergoes to prepare for the knowledge and finally assimilate the truth as non-separate from oneself. In the oriental sects like Madhyamika Buddhism, Jainism, and the various branches of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) also, the respective versions of the truth have been expressed and communicated using very terse semantics. Understanding and deciphering this body of knowledge undoubtedly requires considerable scholarship which takes years or even decades to acquire.
Real spirituality though is primarily focused on getting rid of Self-ignorance which is made possible by knowing the truth of Oneself and not on the study of different theories. Getting rid of ignorance primarily involves getting rid of false conclusions about oneself which results in misplaced priorities, confusion about what makes one happy, nature of relationships and so on. This inevitably requires learning because any ignorance is dispelled only through knowledge gained by the intellect and Self-knowledge is no different. But that does not require breaking one’s head on various schools of philosophy as an academic discipline. Though some philosophical theories are also investigated, it is mainly for the sake of being aware of the fallacies in the theories, if one happened to have been exposed to them earlier and get rid of one’s misconceptions about oneself. In fact, there is extensive evidence over millennia of the greatest of spiritual masters having been not very educated and some even illiterate. The Self being the very nature of everyone it is absurd to exclude anyone based on intellectual qualifications! Everyone has equal right over this knowledge. Ironically, many a time it is also seen that if one gets caught up in the semantics and the theoretical aspects, it becomes a big obstacle in the process of the assimilating the truth of Oneself. This is because scholarship gives an ego kick of being very “knowledgeable” and that attitude becomes the stumbling block in one’s assimilation.
All the above negation of unnecessary scholarship in the pursuit of Self-knowledge is not to deny or belittle scholarship completely. In the pursuit of Self-knowledge quite a bit of learning and rigorous study is undoubtedly involved and essential like in exposing oneself to the structured and systematic teaching methodology from one’s chosen Guru. The study includes learning Sanskrit as that is an integral part of the pursuit. Deep scholarship in Sanskrit is not what is meant here but having a good familiarity with the language is important. This is because the original language in which this whole body of knowledge is preserved is Sanskrit. A lot of technical words in Sanskrit like Dharma, Punya, Pāpa, Ātmā, Brahman etc., to convey profound ideas cannot really be translated adequately to other languages. This is because such words are unique to the Indian culture, way of thinking and approach to life. Other cultures don’t have equivalents because they never had a need for such words. Hence, it is not there in their languages. For this process of study, one needs to also internalize the meaning of these words which is possible only by learning the language. One can get an approximate understanding from translations but it will not be exact. The knowledge of Sanskrit is then blended with the retention of relevant texts, written in verse form (shloka) and this combination is of invaluable aid in the process of contemplation. Hence, this systematic study cannot be avoided unless one is extra-ordinarily gifted and that is clearly very rare. Exceptions only confirm the general rule. It is a stupendous achievement for any culture to have arrived at a structured methodology to preserve and teach Self-knowledge. And one who goes through this elaborate study remains eternally grateful to all the stalwarts over millennia who have painstakingly preserved this teaching methodology to this day. And this, despite all invasions and attempts at destroying the spiritual culture by the invaders, over centuries.
For this study, any normal education that has endowed one with decent logical, analytical capability is quite sufficient. One just needs the analytical ability and capacity to be objective, to be able to see that the world is not as real as it appears. Fortunately, that does not require an extremely high level of intelligence or academic qualification. Some intelligence, yes, but everyone has as much.
In fact, sometimes (not always) being educated from premier academic institutions, being overqualified or an over achiever can also be a drawback because of the ego and pride that comes along with it. But the confidence and ability to go through some academic rigor that comes from a good educational background are helpful.
Also, if one is too qualified or an over-achiever, the attitude of śraddhā and surrender to the śāstra are a challenge and struggle and without that two knowledge is impossible. There may also be a tendency to do it all by self-learning without a teacher and that is a huge trap! Because of the nature of the subject matter (Self-knowledge) it is impossible to self-learn, and Guru is mandatory and unavoidable. This is not always the case!Also, anyone could have these problems (lack of śraddhā, attitude of surrender to the knowledge and tendency to self-learn) and hence it is good to be aware and mindful. This is just by way of caution...
A simple, open, innocent, non-manipulative mind, which is also compassionate, empathetic, non-egoistic, composed, and reasonably tranquil mind is most helpful and more than sufficient... Interestingly all these qualities are quite independent of one’s educational qualifications.